her formal education made her one of the most educated women of her generation. the popular image is often very dark. her childhood, many of the stories associated represent a typical childhood. she had a pony she rode around she and her siblings would catch minnows in the creek. she and her cousin attempted to create their own hoop skirts and wear them to sunday school. mary, parents, and her siblings would spend the evening together. in addition to the family members, there were enslaved african americans that this column. -- at this home. on average, they had five slaves that provided all of the

household labor. it included three women and two men. we had a portrait of mary's stepmother's mother. she is said to be a formative influence on mrs. lincoln. she was well-educated, she spoke french fluently. she is also interesting with her views in regard to slavery. in her will, she chose to provide for the gradual freeing of her slaves after her death. this represents her political position of gradual emancipation. this is the dining room of the home. this is where they would have entertained other prominent families of the day, including politicians. one of the greatest politicians and a neighbor of the todds was henry clay.

leader of the whig political party. her father was also a member of that political party. they shared some political ideas, especially in regard to slavery. they supported the american colonization society, the movement to re-settle blacks back to liberia. this is what she was exposed to as a child. this was the gentleman's parlor, a formal area of the house. according to one of her cousins, she would sit in on some of the political conversations that what happened here when her father was entertaining prominent men of the day. she might have taken an interesting politics to garner the image of her father that was very active in state and local politics.

>> our next caller is from lexington. your question or comment. caller: thank you for taking my call. i certainly appreciate the empathetic and unique, specific aspects of her time at the white house. of course, in the segment we just watched, they became confederates during the war. i am aware of her sister, emily, who married a man who eventually became a confederate general. can you talk a bit about mary's mourning? did she mourn for her confederates? >> that is an interesting question. >> she was the fourth of seven children.

there were at least three or four of the siblings or step- siblings who fought actively -- for the confederacy. >> and one of them was the husband of one of her favorite stepsisters, emily. >> exactly. and he was killed. and the lincolns had emily to stay at the white house for some extended period of time. in fact, there is a scene where i believe there was a general at the dinner table, complaining about sharing the dinner table with a rebel, and lincoln said, "mrs. lincoln and i do not need any help from you in deciding who our guests will be." anyway, mary made it very clear that her siblings had taken up

arms, not only against the country but against her husband, and she saw no reason. >> nancy is in indiana. you are on, nancy. caller: thank you. a wonderful, unique woman, who is my hero. something that is not brought up often, about her mental condition, but i have never seen anything about what she took. i do not understand why more people do not bring this up, especially as her mental condition got worse as she got older. she had headaches all her life. it affects the brain.

>> thank you, nancy. do you know anything about that? >> no, i do not, but what she is saying would make sense, that she suffered from headaches, probably migraine. >> thunderstorms, too. she was terrified of thunderstorms. at the first sign of a thunderstorm, he would leave the office and go home. >> our conversation about mary todd lincoln continues. caller: i am watching every time it appears. i want to know, how did the lincoln's come to know each other? who?ourted >> thank you very much. may we answer that by video? because we are going to learn more about the lincolns' springfield home.

>> this is their home in springfield, illinois. the only home that they called home, where she learned how to be a wife and mother until 1861. over the course of the 17 years, they added on and added on and created a two-story, very comfortable, upper-class home. after living in the house, they were able to add a full second floor as part of the expanding of not only their family, and his career, he was traveling the circuit, so most of the day-to- day oversight would have been mary lincoln. she was very decisive. she knew exactly what she wanted, so it probably was not too much for her. they were able to add five bedrooms. there was a guest bedroom, which would have been a luxury. they had their own space, not necessarily to highlight

problems in their marriage, but they each had their own space. privacy is not something you get a lot of in the 1850's or the 1860's. he could work on legal papers or political views. mrs. lincoln would have to get up early to make breakfast. her two sons slept in trundle beds under her bed, and then there was robert, the eldest son. he got his own room, but as soon as he went to college, his other brother moved in. and they had to hire girls almost every year they lived here, and that girl had her own space at the end of the hallway right outside of the kitchen. we are in mary's bedroom, and this would have been a sanctuary for her. she is in a household of boys and men, a lot of men coming to visit mr. lincoln, so she would have needed a spot that she could retreat to issue needed to

end that would serve as a home office for her. this is morally and figuratively the center of a home. this is a royal oak stove. you can see the acorns on the oven door. it came from buffalo, new york. mary purchased this stowe from a local dealer in springfield. we think it was somewhere between $20 to $25, and if you think about it, the average person making about $500 a year, this is an expensive purchase. she wanted to pack it up with the other things and take it to washington. mr. reagan reminded her she was not going to be doing a lot of cooking when she was at the white house, so they left it for the renters. they started out a little bit

lower middle class, smaller houses, people moving into the neighborhood, and the neighborhood was starting to grow. mary wanted to not only keep up with the joneses, she wanted to be the joneses. >> the that is a glimpse of the lincolns' life together. how did they meet? they were 10 years apart in age. >> that is right. it has been speculated that a relationship with the stepmother may have been a factor, but in 1839, she went to springfield. why springfield? a sister was married to a man who was governor of territorial illinois, said she was immediately thrown into the social set. springfield was a tiny town, maybe 2500 people. >> she was wealthy and well educated. >> this is something i think people tend to overlook. why lincoln was attracted to her

in the first place. classic opposites. this was a young woman who frankly could have had her choice. future senators expressed interest in mary. she spoke french fluently. she was by all accounts a winning conversationalist, highly educated. a beautiful woman of her day. a compelling figure, and lincoln stood off to one side with his mouth hanging open. the contrast between his own education, his own lack of polish, and one of the things that married did that i do not think she gets a lot of credit for was to add some polish to her unpolished husband. she was his advocate.

two races for the united states senate, and his political career. she imagined him in the white house long before he did, and the parlor on the first floor, just one way in which she conducted a campaign for him. >> he broke off their engagement for a year and a half, and here is something he had to say after breaking off the engagement. "i am now the most miserable man in the world." can either of you tell us how they finally got back together? >> yes, there was a man named francis. his wife, in effect, stepped in and said, "look. this is ridiculous. you care for each other." they reignited a friendship.

they announced that very day, mary let it be known to the family that they were married in that night. edwards and his wife insisted that they have to do it at their house, etc., etc., and a great tragic irony of all of this is that it was in that same house 40 years later that his life came to end. >> our next caller in west fargo, north dakota. caller: thank you for having me. i am calling today because i wanted to know your feelings about what mary would have bought when it was time for the slaves to become free.

and in minnesota, the largest mass hanging in our united states history, and being a native american from north dakota, i was just wondering. did mary know about this? and if she did, what were her feelings on this at the time? >> i have not seen anything about her response to the hangings. i know she was very excited about the emancipation proclamation. i suspect from what i have gleaned from her caring about people who were disadvantaged and outside, so to speak, that she may not have liked the idea, but i do not know. >> i know lincoln tried to reduce that number. the original was much, much larger than that, and he reduced its significantly. he went along with the whole thing somewhat reluctantly.

>> cindy in denver. caller: hi. thank you for taking my call. i have a question. first, i wanted to thank you for this series. it is great. and i wanted to ask if either of your guests have heard of mary lincoln suffering from mental illnesses that we would today equate with being bipolar or manic depressive. >> we have many people even on twitter try to put a name to mary lincoln's anguish, and how impossible is that to do, when you are looking back 150 years? >> that is what i thought. that is what i was thinking. they used to call it manic depressive before bipolar, but it seemed as though sometimes

she was very excited and very outgoing. sometimes hysterical with grief. >> how possible is it for us to know this? >> the symptoms give you hints. >> pointing out the obvious. neither one of us is professionally trained to diagnose any condition, but it is no doubt that there is this continuing fascination and a desire on the part of people to put a name to her condition. >> from what i understood, none of the positions could figure it out. they could not come up with anything conclusive in diagnosis. >> as a girl, and there were

names, and later, mercurial. >> georgia, good evening. caller: hi. thank you for the program. i will mention that my husband and i and three other couples have read patricia brady's biography of washington. two months ago, we read "the first family," about john and abigail adams, so that has added more to my knowledge of those two, and another book that we read, which is fictionalize, a biography of mary, so i do not know how you feel about that, but nothing in it was new to me or contradicted any thing of other sources, historical sources, except that there was mention of what appeared to be an affair with some government employee. it has been several years, and i am sorry that i do not remember

the author, but i was very skeptical about it except for the fact that existing newspapers were quoted with dates and headlines, and i thought it this author has made this up, she really has been bold in doing so. it seems the employee may have been somebody in charge of housing or government buildings in d.c., and i wondered if you had any comments on that or knew anything about it. >> only that one of the criticisms that have been made, and i alluded to it earlier, gossip. that is how i would characterize it. gossip, suggesting that mrs.

lincoln in her desperation -- inappropriate individuals, and how far it went. i would be very skeptical, to be honest with you. >> and we should say that this is the first time in history that newspapers were having columnists, opinion writers. the opinion of her was spread in the newspapers around the country. this is really a change in the way first ladies were treated by the press. >> sure, sure. >> a scapegoat. >> and how incredibly intense the popular emotions were. the civil war. that carries over to coverage of the president and his family. >> another video at the springfield home, and this one helps us understand more about the political partnerships that were referred to between the two winds. -- lincolns. [video clip] >> this is where she helped build his political career.

mary and abraham would invite friends and family over to talk politics. the events of the day. this is where he became the president. mr. lincoln was a very ambitious person. he had a lot of goals in life. those were enhanced when he met and married mary todd. she was ambitious, saying she wanted to marry a man with a good mind, someone who wanted to be president, and there was something about lincoln that she saw the potential and encouraged it and helped nurture it. in the dining room, helping to polish them up for society, the political parties that they have, where they invited a lot of important people. she wielded a lot of power, both of mr. lincoln and where he was going. this is the dining room.

when they moved in, it was a kitchen, and that is not something that a college, high- society, upper-class woman would do. mary had grown up with a formal dining room, and she felt she needed to have one because she did not want her children growing up without proper manners, and in a lot of cases, mr. lincoln needed that polishing, as well. so she created this dining room to have that form, where she and her family and also when they had guests over, so a lot of different people that came to visit mr. lincoln during the 1860's campaign and then after he was elected president. there were four months between the election and the inauguration, so many were coming to springfield, and one ended up being mr. lincoln's secretary of state. mary, being a host, she would have had to raise of cakes or a -- trays of

cakes or a macaroon. from downtown springfield. we knew that they bought a lot of those macaroon pyramids. this is the double parlor, and these are the two nicest rooms of the house. there are marble top tables, the windows, gilded candlesticks. there is a walnut what not shelf with a bust of mr. lee again on -- lincoln on it. not everybody in the neighborhood could say that they had a bust of their husband in the living room. so this is a fancy place. this is where she wanted to show off. mary would have held her party

is in here. she would have been discussing mr. lincoln's political aspirations. at the front door, meeting mr. lincoln here, probably in the archway between the two rooms, may be picking up some refreshments, and then in the sitting room before going out again. but this was the seat of power in the house. mary was showcasing what her husband had done, how far he had come from that one-room log cabin in the middle of nowhere kentucky to this beautiful house, a very comfortable house, and kind of hinted at where they were headed, stating to the world that abraham lincoln had made it and that he was ready to move on. >> next, a caller from wisconsin, his name is tim. go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. i have read several biographies about mary lincoln, and i have never seen anything in there as to how influential, some of the

policies that abraham inactive while he was president, and i am just wondering if either of your guests could elaborate further as to the extent of the political decisions that were made in the white house during his time in office. >> she was interested in personalities. she used to refer to one as that abolitionist sneak. we talked earlier. ironically, obtaining their goal. once they moved into the white house. as we would move that today, it diminished. i think the partnership was in some ways broken. i think it was a source of frustration.

the relationship that they had had before the presidency was in some way greatly diminished. i do not think that she was significantly influential in terms of shaping public policy or the conduct of the war or even who he voted as cabinet. >> we have only eight minutes left and still a lot of stories to tell. she lived years after the assassination. what were those years like a >> -- like for her? >> part of the time, she was in a mental institution because her son robert put her there, and i have been debating about him very much about the way she felt he had been disloyal to her and how he was able to control her money and become, i guess, the executor of it. she had to struggle, but she

managed -- people who could help her, and i thought that was admirable, even with your problems, that she was able to do that. >> she did something. she was obsessed with money, and at one point, she moved to sell off a lot of her white house dresses. the public impression. >> she was in debt. >> she was in debt. $27,000. she needed the cash, no doubt about it. she petitioned congress for a pension, which finally was granted, $3,000. >> a month? >> a year. subsequently raised to $5,000. >> but only after she found out that another first lady, and i cannot remember which one, was getting $5,000, and she said, "if you are giving her $5,000, you should give me $5,000."

>> she went to live in europe because it was cheaper. in 1871 when tad died of tuberculosis. >> how old was he? >> he would have been 16. of the children, only one lifted to adulthood. coming back from europe. >> from baltimore, your question. >> yes. a great program. what was mary lincoln's relationship? from the movie, tad and his father had a strong relationship. did he have a strong relationship with her? >> i think yes. it carried over. he had a sensitivity.

following the death of his father, he realized how vulnerable his mother was, and, in fact, he appointed himself to try to take care of her. >> i think his personality was also similar to hers, and i think they were simpatico in that. i think she recognized that and he recognized that, so i'd think that would be another reason why they were close. >> in chicago, and then she went to europe. >> she went to europe. she came back. and then robert had her incarcerated for several months. there was a second trial, however, in which she managed to convince a jury that she was perfectly sane.

she and robert never really reconciled. she went back to europe for four years, lived in france for four years, and then in 1880 returned to springfield. she was almost blind. she had severe cataracts, and she went to her sister's house, the house where she had met mr. lincoln. >> from benson, illinois, you are on. caller: i think you answered my question. i wanted to know if robert and his mother ever got to be friends again. did he offer to take her to his home? >> yeah, there was what you might call a formal reconciliation. >> i do not think she trusted him. >> related to this, from twitter -- are there any living relatives? >> there are no living relatives. >> so robert had no children? >> one dies.

the last direct descendants died in the 1970's. >> a great question to wrap up the show from facebook. "when you are alone with your friends, what is your favorite story to tell about mary lincoln?" do you want to go first? >> that she and was about had a great relationship. they were the same age. they both lost sons. her son was lost in the army in the civil war, and then mary supported the causes that elizabeth supported. >> and what does that tell you about mary lincoln? >> that she is a very sensitive person, that she could empathize. >> and how controversial would that be that she was a friend with an african-american? >> to some extent, even the people kept calling elizabeth her servant, but i do not think mary looked at her as a servant.

i think mary looked at her to be a companion. >> in the case of what might have been, lincoln served only one term in congress. he would not be reelected, and so it was mary who managed to campaign to get him the job as commissioner of the office at $2,000 per year. it was mary who wrote the letter. and there was the governorship of the oregon territories. it was mary who told him that oregon was not friendly, likely to be democratic and that it was not in their long-term interest to be the governor of that territory. >> from denver, colorado.

caller: hi. i would just like to know a couple of things. what would she have wanted her legacy to be today, and also, would she have been more or against the women's movement in the 1960's, if there were a time machine? >> thank you very much. the women and the legacy. >> the legacy. >> what legacy would she have wanted? >> that she loved her husband and her family. in that order. >> do you want to add to that? >> she wanted people to get along. i really think she did, and that is something she tried to do early in the white house years, to be fair and encourage people regardless of the party they were in, but with regard to women, i think she might have been persuaded to be a feminist, but it is kind of hard to tell.

>> well, we are out of time. i hope we provided a more nuanced picture of mary todd lincoln, the wife of the president, and i want to say a special thank you to the white house historical association. 35 installments altogether. thank you for your contributions tonight. >> thank you. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] ♪

>> tomorrow night on "first ladies" -- >> she supported all of his decisions. it was fun for her politesse has been to be in politics and go to washington and be in the senate and congress, but she did not want to be a part of it. but she supported his decision to do it all the time. i know there are other things in which she wish they could be back home. but she believed her husband would be acquitted and was proud

when he was. she kept saying she knew it would happen. >> the encore presentation of our original series "first ladies." >> i were website has more about the first ladies come escalating -- including a special section called welcome to the white house. it chronicles life in the executive mansion during the tenure of the first ladies. ladies of the united states of america" is a biography and portrait of each first lady. it is now available for the discounted price of $12.95 plus shipping and can be found at c- span.org/products. the c-span town hall meeting that discusses the future of political parties.

following that, nancy pelosi. after that, a town hall meeting with senator john mccain. >> this is a c-span townhall. you good tos away, have more of your say. during congress's recess, tuesday, wednesday, and thursday night on c-span, we are looking at public politics and talking to you about positions. welcome to c-span town hall tonight. we will ask you about the future of your political party. who is the future leader, the likely presidential candidate, and maybe it is somebody that is not necessarily yet on the national scene. a couple of ways for you to participate, by phone. we will open up the lines now.

make sure you mute your television and radio when you call in. you can also use twitter. we will read tweets from members of congress who are back in their home states and districts for the august recess. some postings already on facebook. we are asking you, who is the future of your party? scott says -- doug, if you want to call in, you can use that third line. that is for third-party candidates and independent candidates.

who is the future of your party? we will lead the party in the coming years, following some of what we heard from boston today. at the rnc. we will get to your calls in just a minute. we want to show you a recent town hall in iowa. one of the speakers was senator claire from missouri. she talked that democrats bringing independence to be successful. >> how do we make women's issues -- democratic platform issues, independent? it seems to be we are so locked into partisan arguments. >> independent voters in missouri.

it is about the third. there is about 30% of missouri that would not vote to me -- for me to matter what here there is about one third that would vote for me no matter what. [laughter] there is this middle. most of the folks in the middle are perfectly willing to vote for a republican or a democrat. they like compromise and moderation. i think one of the things we need to do is make sure we are communicating always with independent voters across the country, that if we always put on our hat of being a political party first, we will lose those voters. we have got a wonderful opportunity in the country right now. the shiny objects in the republican party do not translate well to independent voters. they translate very well in the face of the republican party. you all have noticed very well. your caucuses are famous for

taking republicans that are not anywhere near the middle. [laughter] really, that is opportunity for us. if we continue to talk about the issues most americans care about kid through college, will i have a retirement, is there healthcare, is the bridge down the road safe? these macro issues -- these are the macaroni and cheese issues we are focused on. as long as we keep talking about those, we will get more independent voters than ted cruz, rand paul, and all the other todd akin wannabes. [laughter] [applause]

>> senator claire mccaskill from the iowa townhall. this is c-span townhall asking you tonight who the future of your party is. we have a tweet from cory who says -- marco rubio is the future of the gop. he shows true leadership. we have nick on the democratic line. caller: this is a fantastic question. a lot of the up and comers in the republican party were minorities. they talked about the policies they were not really attracted to. people like the incumbent attorney general of california, governor of maryland, from texas, and locally, there is a great guy, a commissioner of california. these are all candidates who

will be speaking to racial and economic justice. >> all the candidates you mentioned were democratic candidates. caller: that is my party. correct. >> thanks for calling. susan is on our independent line. who do you like there out there as a future independent. caller: the only one who has been honest is rand paul. also, his father, ron paul. what a combination. only has been honest in the things that have been brought up and

giving credit where credit is due and saying, if we want to change anything, we have to go to congress. they are the only ones i have heard for the last years that have been honest. so, that is just my opinion. >> senator rand paul is on your screen. critical today of president obama's decision to postpone the military exercise with egypt, making the announcement earlier. we will show you the president's comments later on in the headline. they write senator paul says the law is very clear. "mr. president, stop skirting the issue, follow the law, and cancel all foreign aid." our caller is on the republican party. who is your candidate?

rubio or ted cruz. >> you said marco rubio and ted cruz. what do you like about both? caller: they are both very knowledgeable about today's issues as far as immigration reform. people talk about immigration reform. i am a hispanic. i am in texas. we are not a dying breed. we do exist. hispanic, female, republican. that is almost non-existent to the mainstream media or to the of the -- other politicians out there. i really do believe these two men would be closer to what reality is.

although, there are other hispanics somewhere else, up north, or northeast, areas like that. down here, in texas, arizona, new mexico, all of those states, they deal with immigration reform. they deal with hispanic culture. those cultures are very real. a lot of times, we get bypassed by saying, most hispanics are democrats. that is in no way true. that may be something other people think about. here in texas, where it counts, this is our area. we are very real. a lot of people do not even think -- "they are hispanic,

they will vote democrat." no. that is not true. when it really comes down to it, and you really look, the democrats are not helping people. they always ran on a "work for the poor." that is not true. if they have their foot on your throat and you are down there accepting food stamps and depending on them, they are the best party. but if you want to go and get ahead in life and do what you should be doing, then the democratic party is not the party to vote for. >> thank you for your comments. checking a couple of tweets from members of congress.

at missouri state fair, here is what he had to say -- served upribs today. a picture of those ribs. another senator said today, responding to the announcement today of the new sexual assault policy made by secretary hagel, she says the policy is a step forward but inadequate to truly address the crisis. a tweet from yesterday, out in the desert -- the perils of living in the desert. this guy stuck me today. today.g me that was actually from yesterday. the reason western conservative summit address the future of the leadership in the republican party. and some of the rising stars in that party. here is what they had to say. >> there are two races in the united states.

there is new jersey, where chris christie is clinging to a 30- point lead over his democratic opponent. >> he clearly outweighs. [laughter] >> outweighs most. let's be clear. but he will win. i am a new jersey and that i am from new jersey. i will say from chris christie about chris christie, a lot are not enamored by him. come to new jersey. when you spend time in new jersey, you may understand regardless what you think of him on a more national stage, he's exactly what the state of new jersey has needed area he has been the best thing to happen in my state in my lifetime. the state has been run by bullies for decades. they have gotten us into a lot of trouble. chris christie is a little pug nations and truculent. a bit of a bully from time to time, but that is what we needed. we will win in new jersey -- in virginia, there is also that.

speaking only on my own behalf and not urging any of you to go out and support any candidates, i will say cancel janel he is a cucinelli is a strong conservative in a tough fight. it will be a tossup race. it will be ugly. a lot of undecided voters. if you are on the sidelines thinking about, what can i do this year, ken is probably in more need than chris christie. i would be remiss if i moved on without pointing out that last i heard, there are a couple of elections on september 10 in colorado. [applause] those will be fascinating to watch. i am getting some of the inside dynamics about those last night at dinner from state senators. you probably know more about that than i do. let's look at 2014. for context for our friends in

scottsdale, the colorado constitution since 1876 has provided that we the people petition to fire a state legislature for cause at the people may see fit. in this case, the senator, democrat, and a blue-collar democrat, they are on the ballot to be recalled because of deep rejections by their constituents to the gun grabbing votes they cast. it has never been in the history of colorado, that the state legislators have been fired in a

recall. [applause] >> i think it is interesting that you have got a mayor in new york city who is a slippery grabber. -- slurpee grabber. he might be replaced by america's most famous amateur photographer. >> you can see all of that western summit is in our library at c-span.org. we are asking you who is the future of your party. democrats, publicans, -- republicans, independents. we will hear what the situation in iowa is as potential candidates enter. chris christie, and article writing about the situation. the republican candidate for senate in the state. the situation governor christie finds himself in.

the headline -- they write that governor christie finds himself in an awkward situation. they said they do not expect the governor to lift a finger to campaign or raise money for his party's nominee were lent him support in his longshot campaign against booker in the october special election. let's hear from antonio in portland, oregon. democratic caller. who is the future of your party? caller: hillary clinton is definitely the future of our party. i am a lifelong hispanic democrat. i am very proud of the job obama has done. i think the future lies with hillary and the democratic party. the republican party has done this bible trivia fanaticism of

shooting themselves in the foot. >> let's hear from phoenix, arizona, to alex on the independent line. are you a member of the third party or an independent? caller: truly independent. what is going on is i feel we need someone to stand up -- i have not seen anyone do that yet. this might be out there, but i feel they are putting surveillance equipment. they own food.

i cannot even -- oh my god. >> i will let you go there, alex. castro for the democrats and chris christie for the republicans. -- >> republican line. caller: thank for taking my call. this call has been wonderful. i love the woman who said, i am hispanic, i am from texas, and i am a republican. tha

i am black from washington dc and i am also an anomaly like that woman. i am a happy, proud conservative. my future leaders, i would love to see chris christie. i love that fellow because he gets the job done and works with both parties and he is not totally ignorant, sometimes, that our party can be. we have a communication problem. i have to give us kudos because last week, when someone had something -- a barack obama mask in his array, we spoke immediately. i was proud of us. we stay quiet so often. that is why a lot of blacks and hispanics say we are racist. we are not. we love minorities and we need to act like it. thank you for taking my call. >> are you still on the line? caller: yes.

>> what is it you think the party can do to attract? caller: there are a couple of things we can do. one is stand up. when you hear something ridiculous, stand up. speak out. say, listen, stop letting the democratic party paint us as being awful people that do not like black people and we want to take everybody's food stamps away, we want to take away every government saying. they paint us to be monsters and it is not true. we need to speak out and communicate. take notes from barack obama. no, i did not vote for him. i was not necessarily happy he won. i thought something was wrong with me because this was the first black president. i disagree with his policies. we should take note from him. he kept his offices open from the beginning to the end of the year. we close our offices.

that is why we got beat bad. hopefully, we can hire david, maybe he will switch over with us and he will run. >> thank you for your comments. a couple on twitter. >> good evening. go ahead with your comment. caller: would be the leader of -- hillary would be the leader of the democratic party.

one of the reasons i am democratic is because i believe in a safety net for those in the united states at maybe cannot make it on their own and need help. i do not see the republicans actually looking out for everybody. i think they were more disenfranchised a lot of people. that is why they are trying to get the latino vote and other things. they are not really showing themselves in good favor with a lot of communities in the united states. you cannot read the bible and lift your head and ask like other people do not exist. it is hypocritical. it is the hypocritical party to me. >> jeff on the independent line. who do you like now? there is the future of somebody to bring the independence into one of the two parties. caller: we need a break from the two parties. i am looking at the minnesota governor as a possible presidential bid down the road. he has made no it -- noise about interest. the governor of minnesota, both sides of the aisle.

not just interested in following the political strip. some u.s. questions, as a good idea of what to do to ensure our place in the world. >> what does he do now? caller: working on different projects. he has an online tv show. it is more on the line of asking questions. what if, what is, or what is happening. i think that is a valuable thing we do not do enough of. the snowden situation for example. instead of saying, what is going on, what is happening, is everything up to snuff, we just say he is a traitor. president obama -- a lot of times condemning him. we still need to ask questions. i think mayor bloomberg was mentioned, independent thinkers.

people who say, there is weight there are ways to get things >> what was the year he was running for president? as an independent? i thought he had run as an independent. caller: not yet. he had personal health issues with his wife. he has been making some noise. grassroots organizations, we have a group together. on the ballot next year. it is one of those things -- >> thank you. from connecticut, norman, democrats line. caller: how are you this evening? i am going for hillary clinton.

the reason i am is because she has experience and background. one of my biggest problems, i used to be a republican. i switched over to democrat. that was because every time something would come up about the health care, the jobs thing, right? there was never a plan from the republicans to replace those. it seems to be the trend today. they say they are no good. they will be all bad for everybody. but they have no plan. nobody is asking them when they are speaking. when -- if you want to get rid of this, what is your plan? >> thanks for your call. we will bring some comments from president obama on violence from egypt today. hope the u.s. would suspend military exercises in egypt. the town hall meeting earlier this week by john mccain in arizona. critical of the president's decision on egypt and the

administration's action on egypt. the headline -- he slammed the obama administration this evening saying the president did not go far enough responding to violence on egypt. -- we will show you some of the town hall comments from john mccain a later in our c-span townhall. the question, who is the future of your little party? the independent line, joan, good evening. caller: hi. weeks ago, you had the governor of utah on "washington journal." i was really impressed with him. the next day, i saw him when he had some of the panels gatherings that they have. i was real impressed with him then, too.

he is real smart. just as a man, not a politician, because he does not seem -- i just thought he was just a real smart, good, level headed man. i am glad you had him on "washington journal." i was real impressed with him. >> the meeting a couple weeks ago in will walk you that we covered. you will find that in our library. democrats line. hello. caller: good evening. i am glad you took my. i am a democrat. i have been a democrat. my father is a republican. we could not trust him anymore. [indiscernible] that is the way they have always treated the blacks and hispanics. i transferred -- [indiscernible]

i agree some are good, but what she said about the republicans, i do not agree. in texas, they wanted to try to get all the hispanics to vote to become caucasian, to vote so they could have the majority. [indiscernible] we do not want to be that. i said, ok. then they got upset with them about that. i am definitely hillary clinton. she will win. [indiscernible] the thing about the republicans, they are big liars.

i cannot see how they except lies the way they do. they tell the blacks this lady from bc -- she can be what she wants. they are not throwing anybody who does not have anything. they do not want them. did you hear what ron paul said? the gop leader there. >> we will let you go there. our viewer from texas. paul is on the republican line. who is the future of the gop? caller: i am hoping for senator rick santorum. but i would like republicans to

dig alan keyes back up. years ago, he really impressed me as a very brilliant person, straightforward, and could be a very good representative. >> does it hurt either rick santorum or alan keyes to have run before and have not been successful? caller: if you do not succeed at first, try and try again. look at abraham lincoln. he could not win anything. finally, he got his break. >> thanks for your input. david is on our independent line. are you in a third party? who do you like the leader of the independents or your party? caller: i am a moderate. i would like to see a good republican or democrat,. i think both parties are moving to the extremes. unfortunately, i think the republicans, the future will be rand paul or ted cruz. while everybody is looking at hillary clinton, i am starting

to think elizabeth warren is more speaking for the base of the democrats, from what i've seen. >> to oakland we go. elaine is on our democrat line. what do you think? who is the leader of your party? caller: i am from oakland, california. everybody, god bless. the problem is -- it does not matter how good you are to

overcome an obstacle, what others do to you. everybody is basically in a state of grace. having a hard time, these things are not going away. take it to the heart. the lord said, "i am standing on a rock. beat down. 2010, -- 2011 [indiscernible] they have been using me as a guinea pig in the laboratory. i am a new version." >> we will let you go there, elaine. cory booker just won an election the democratic primary. replace the deceased frank. cory booker spoke recently. here is what he had to say.

>> i will never get invited back again because i am about to tell you guys a joke. it has a high level of truth in this. -- truthiness. as stephen colbert would say. causing all kinds of problems. everybody tries to intervene. the deacon, the choir director, nobody can do anything. finally, the pastor said, i am bringing him down to my office and i will deal with this myself. he brings the older brother into his office, sit behind the desk, sits him and from the desk, staring down at the pastor. the pastor was surprised by the behavior from a young man. he thinks, i have got to try

something different. he sees a big, warm bible on the table. he puts his and on it and lays on it and looks at the boy and says, "i want to tell you now, where is god?" the boy looks scared. the pastor thinks, "i've got him." he picks up a bible and waves hit above his head and says, "tell me right now, where is god?" the boy is shaken visibly from head to toe. i do not know what pastors you have.

my pastor is -- when something is going well, you double down. [laughter] he stands up behind his desk, leans over to the boy, shaking the bible, and says, at the height of his sermon, he yelled, "so everybody can hear you scream, my son, tommy right now, where is god?" the boy jumps up, shaking from head to toe, sprints out of the office, grabs his little brother by the hand and says, "we have got to get out of here. god is missing and the pastor thinks we took him." [laughter] [applause] my point is, ladies and gentlemen, we have got problems. we cannot sit around asking, "where is god?" god has created us to deal with these challenges. >> new jersey mayor and now democratic candidate. we are asking you, who is the future of your party? taking your calls, treats, and facebook posts. joining us is a political reporter from the des moines register. must do three years away from election part -- election time with a headline like this. howard dean will be speaking

august 21. thank you for being here. what are you seeing so far in terms of the potential candidates checking in -- trickling into the state? caller: it has been a little bit of a flood if you think about the people on the hot list of possible candidates in 2016. we had marco rubio in florida last fall. scott walker of wisconsin inmate. as well as rand paul in kentucky here in may. this weekend, we had ted cruz of texas and rand paul again.

and then rick santorum return for the first time since the general election. then we have got paul ryan in november. quite a few candidates. on the democratic side, we've got amy of minnesota tomorrow. howard dean is research -- resurfacing. joe biden is coming next month. >> c-span and c-span radio will be covering this in clear lake iowa. tell us a little bit about the event. she is speaking there but honoring hillary clinton. how will that work? caller: right. they gave the award to a

democrat this year. she is true -- coming simply to help campaign for a democratic congressman here running for the senate. she has also spoken to iowans at the national convention in north carolina. it is interesting she is coming back. >> does amy have any interest? is there talk about her possibly forming in interest in running for president in 2016? caller: yes.

when we asked her in north carolina, she brushed off questions about becoming president. we have asked -- activists from last week. they were promoting a generic female president. one of the names were dropped. if you look at any hotlist or possible democratic candidate that hillary clinton does not run, amy is always on the list. >> also reporting on the republican meeting, which c-span recorded part of today. the headline on the site. the headline says, the national gop, i was looking secure. what is the tool role that iowa has in terms of not just being a launching pad for candidates, but a place the candidates have to again to build the delicate delegates for the convention? caller: exactly. it is a ticket out, especially if you are not well-known. it is also a momentum builder. yes, also, it is gathering support for the eventual national delegation. >> is the story from boston earlier today that iowa's place is the first in the nation?

caller: yes. i think so. they are perennially attacked. we had problems with accusations with people, that campaigns are buying people's votes here. a variety of problems. that is pretty typical. i was always a little worried we are on shaky ground. it sounds like there is no rumbling of any effort. >> we are asking our viewers who the future of their party is. from what you have seen, are there any names that surprise you that you see popping up on the list or coming to iowa to speak, whether they are overtly speaking as a candidate or not? >> we were surprised, thinking, is he running for president? he said no. every once in a while, we have someone showing up for iowa who is not thinking about running. even though any politician automatic he goes on the list of thomas they wanted. >> that is a status iowa has. jennifer jacobs. you can read her reporting. and follow her on twitter. thank you for joining us this evening. we continue with your calls on who is the future of your party? in texas, our republican line. make sure you mute your television or radio. i can hear feedback. then go ahead with your comments. i will put you on hold. make sure, folks, when you come on, to mute your television or radio. there we go. in texas, you are good now. go ahead.

caller: yes. i have been democratic for all of the sign -- this time. i am changing my party to republican. i do not like the democratic -- their morals, what they stand for, and it is really hurting the democratic party. this year, i am voting republican. that is all i can say from texas. i am hispanic. they will communicate the republicans with hispanics, and their morals are more acceptable. >> you mentioned morals. is that a higher issue for you than something like immigration reform? caller: yes. more than the immigration

reform. i am an american citizen. i was democratic. i like chris christie for president. i hope he wins. >> thanks for your call this evening. florida is next, independent line. jeff. hello. caller: hi. this is a little bit off subject, but i have been independent since ross perot ran for president. i would like to know, why, and how do we change it, that the

independents can vote in the primaries? i have not been able to vote in the primaries for a long time. i do not think our representatives can do this all by themselves. i believe the american citizens have to get more involved. if the representatives go back to the basics and give the american people what they are asking for, we can do leaps and bounds in the 21st century. that is all i have to say. >> thanks. this tweet is from sasha talking about the utah governor.

someone had mentioned the utah governor. -- a couple more here. this one says -- lastly, this one is from kenneth the gop is launching a rising stars program. we will show you some of that earlier -- we showed you some of that earlier. he writes the project is the brainchild -- here are some of the panelists from earlier today at that rising stars meeting. >> saying something offensive, that is plastered all over the news. that ends up being what is "our

position." that is ludicrous. we just have to accept that is the way it will be. what we have to be doing is really -- again, this comes down to state and local officials, people in a community, a neighborhood. you have to connect with people. as a person. you have to talk to them at the grocery store, get them involved with the parents association at school.

then, guide the conversation. ask them questions. are you happy with the education system? with your property taxes? are you worried about such and such? then just tell yourself, this is what i believe and this is -- the solutions that such and such official or candidate from office supports. do you agree? when it comes on a personal

level, an issue, that is when you can have an impact. it is harder during election season to capture a group. it is important to do spanish media. it is important to use all this data and social media and all that. it really half to be a sincere, more long-term and engaged effort. i would hope we are out there in the communities and having programs. >> if you're going to make the sale, you have to show up and ask for the order. a lot harder three months before the election.

>> exactly. it is interesting republicans and democrats and immigrants and race, all of these things. it is really interesting to see how the party's evolved and perceptions of who is on what side. you have to think long-term. the situation will change. when someone has someone to talk to or someone out there connecting with them, that is when you can make a meaningful impact. >> i promised i would ask you

about the truth sofa. tell us about it? >> in an article on the profile a couple of months ago, in my office, i have a wide sofa, the truth sofa, because, so often, members will come in and tell you exactly you -- what they are thinking. when they get in there and you are looking i to eye, one-on- one, you get the real story. you get the real story while -- why they support this policy or why they do not. the point being that is what we have got to do as a party to engage people one-on-one. i think about my own particular district. when you are talking about minority outreach, my district is 54% democrat, 30 four percent republican, 12% independent. about 25% of that african- american. i carried the african-american vote each time i run. i did it by going one-on-one. i had a relationship there. a third-generation where i am from. they were not voting for some unknown republican. they were voting for wayne's son, or grandson. that made a big difference. we need to make sure we are going out and talking to people one-on-one, like the chairman

laid out in his plan, and not showing up the day before the election or the month election, election, but being there, having a present in the community for the long-term. again, this is a relationship business. i will give you a great example. everyone are members the chick- fil-a issue when it was going on. if you're on facebook, you would have thought there was nobody out there who supported chick- fil-a. the liberals and the democrats have done such a great job of really reinforcing what they already believe about the issue. when it came time to show up to support chick-fil-a, you got a very different answer. there were a lot of people. that is my point. this is a relationship business. that is why i appreciate the plan the chairman laid out that will ultimately lead us to success. >> part of the republican national committee meeting earlier today in boston. let's here from nashville, tennessee, asking our viewers and listeners who is the future of your party? caller: i am 24 years old and afghan american. the future of our party, he has in -- he is very fair. he is one of the most honest politicians we have out there. if ron paul were a republican, i would vote for him as well. another narrative, as african- americans, we need to attack, is the perception that if someone does not agree, or what you believe in, per se, we cannot keep calling them racist. that is one of the biggest problems we have in politics. if someone does not agree with you, it does not mean they are racist. they have their opinion. >> our caller. here is a tweet, keeping and i on what members are saying -- joe is in eau claire, wisconsin on our democrats line. who is the future of the democratic party? caller: as a young person and a democrat, i get hopeful whenever i hear people like cory booker

talking to groups of all different backgrounds, colors, and creeds, and he can relate with people. he comes from a younger generation that can really connect, especially with young and minority voters. when it comes to 2016, hillary clinton will definitely be a formidable candidate if she decides to run. i think in 2008, 2008, we took a risk with hope and change when we elected president obama. that is what we got. our country has had that now and we will have that for eight years. i think our country will be ready for a more seasoned person this time around. i would definitely support her. when i hear republicans talk about scott walker to -- running for president, it makes me cringe a little bit, as a resident from wisconsin.

i found him very divisive as the governor and head of the state. i was at the capital not too many months ago, and state legislators, they do not eat lunch together in the cafeteria anymore in the capital. i think he has definitely helped contribute to the growing problem in our state. i would not wish that on our country. i cringe a little bit whenever i hear that name being thrown out there. >> joe manchin hillary clinton being urged to run here by the daughter of a former republican president, barbara bush. the headline is --

ralph is on the independent line. who do you see as the future political leader you follow? caller: thank you for taking my call. at this time, the most moderate, not because i am in the new york area, but christie would be second as vice president. dr. ben carsey, who i know will never be elected, when he described in the country, when he looks at a human being, he cut them open, and they are not black or white. there is just blood. with the intelligence, he would be the better president. christie, as a seasoned veteran, would bring democrats back on board. he is more middle-of-the-road to me. >> you think he would bring democrats to vote for them -- for him? caller: if you could work all around northern jersey antigenic city -- he really is devoted to and passionate. you cannot take that away. at the same time, i really wish dr. ben carson, who is very honest and intelligent, would really run and really be the best candidate out there. also, once again, he would be

like what we have right now. ideology. we need someone in season, veteran, with politics, and can six people. i was -- i would have to say christie at that end. i would like to see carsey on board at somewhere out there. >> ben carson was our guest this month on the in-depth program. you can find all the video and book tv.org. more coming up on the future of your political party here. let's check the news from today. the violence continues in egypt, nearing the end of the day, but a -- the death toll up above 600. president obama announced he would suspend plans u.s. military exercises with the egyptian military in comments made on martha's vineyard. here is the headline. they say it shows the limits of u.s. sway, writing a rebuke underscored the limits of u.s. influence with the nation's generals, who benefit 1.3 billion dollars a year in military aid. in addition to canceling the high-profile military exercise scheduled to begin next month, obama said his national security team will consider further steps as necessary, a comment that puts military aid in question. we will show you the president's

comments next from martha's vineyard and then back to your comments and calls. >> good morning, everybody. i just finished a discussion with my national security team about the situation in egypt. i wanted to provide an up eight. -- an update. let me get by stepping back. the relationship between the united states and egypt goes back decades. it's rooted in our respect of egypt as a nation, ancient center of civilization, and cornerstone for peace in the middle east. it's also rooted in our ties to the egyptian people forged through a long-standing partnership. just over two years ago america was inspired by the egyptian's people desire for change. they took to the streets to defend their dignity and demand a government that was responsive to their aspirations for political freedom and economic opportunity. and we said at the time that change would not come quickly or

easily, but we did align ourselves with a set of principles. nonviolence, a respect for universal rights, and a process for political and economic reform. in doing so, we were guided by values, but also by interests because we believe nations are more stable and more successful when they are guided by those principles as well. and that's why we are so concerned by recent events.

we appreciate the complexity of the situation. while muhammad morsi was elected president in a democratic election, his government was not inclusive. and did not respect the views of all egyptians. we know that many egyptians, millions of egyptians, perhaps even a majority of egyptians were calling for a change in course. while we do not believe that force is the way to resolve political differences, after the

military's intervention several weeks ago, there remained a chance for reconciliation and an opportunity to pursue a democratic path. instead we have seen a more dangerous path taken through arbitrary arrests. a broad crackdown on mr. morsi's associations and supporters, and now tragically the violence that's taken the lives of hundreds of people and wounded thousands more. the united states strongly condemns the steps that have been taken by egypt's interim

government and security forces. we deplore violence against civilians. we support universal rights essential to human dignity, including the right to peaceful protest. we oppose the pursuit of martial law, which denies those rights to citizens under the principle that security trumps individual freedom. or that might makes right. and today the united states extends its condolences to the families of those who were killed and those who were wounded. given the depths of our partnership with egypt, our national security interests in

this pivotal part of the world and our belief that engagement can support a transition back to a democratically elected civilian government, we have sustained our commitment to egypt and its people. but while we want to sustain our relationship with egypt, our traditional cooperation cannot continue as usual when civilians are being killed in the streets. and rights are being rolled back. as a result, this morning we notified the egyptian government that we are canceling our biannual joint military exercise scheduled for next month. going forward, i have asked my national security team to assess the implications of the actions taken and further steps that we may take as necessary with respect to the u.s. egyptian relationship. the egyptian people deserve better than what we have seen over the last several days. to the egyptian people, let me say the cycle of violence and escalation needs to stop. we call on the egyptian authorities to respect the universal rights of the people. we call on those protesting to do so peacefully in condemned the attacks we have seen by by protesters including on churches. we believe the state of emergency should be lifted in the process of national reconciliation should begin and

all parties need to have a voice in egypt's future and the right of women and religious minority should be respected and commitments should be kept to pursue transparent reforms to the constitution and democratic elections for a parliament and the president. in pursuing that path we'll help egypt meet the democratic aspirations of people while attracting the support to help deliver the opportunities to its citizens. violence on the other hand will only feed the cycle polarization that isolates egyptians from one another and from the world and that continues to hamper the opportunity for egypt to get back on the path of the economic growth. let me make one final point. america cannot determine the future of egypt. that's a task for the egyptian people. we don't take sides with any particular party or political figure.

i know it's tempting inside egypt to blame the united states or west or some other outside actor for what's gone wrong. we have been blamed by supporters of morsi. we have been blamed by the other side as if we are supporters of morsi. that kind of approach will do nothing to help egyptians achieve the future that they deserve. we want egypt to succeed. we want a peaceful democratic, prosperous egypt. that's our interest. but to achieve that the egyptians are going to have to do the work. we recognize that change changes time. and that a process like this is never guaranteed. there are examples in recent

history of countries that are transitioned out of a military government towards a democratic government, and it did not always go in a straight line and the process was not always smooth. there are going to be false starts. there will be difficult days. america's democratic journey took us through some mighty struggles to perfect our union. from asia to the americas, we know that democratic transitions are measured not in months or even years, but sometimes in generations. so in the spirit of mutual interest and mutual respect, i want to be clear that america wants to be a partner in the egyptian people's pursuit of a better future, and we are guided by our national interest in this long-standing relationship. but our partnership must also

advance the principles that we believe in. and that so many egyptians have sacrificed for these last several years, no matter what party or faction they belong to. so america will work with all those in egypt and around the world who support a future of stability that rests on the foundation of justice and peace and dignity. thank you very much. >> president obama from 10:30 a.m. eastern and reporting from "the new york times," the latest death toll surpassing six hundred in egypt. a photo to accompany the story and the associated press has 600 38. c-span town hall and we are spending this evening asking you who was the future of your party? by phone -- the number is -- we are also on facebook.com/c- span and taking your tweets using #cspanchat.

and this one says, i think senator tim scott and marco rubio are the future of the gop. they show true leadership for the nation. and from dan scott -- a couple of stories related to the future of the parties and the 2016 election. this is from the hill writing about the 2016 election. "gop fears 2016 free-for-all will help clinton." republicans did meet today in boston with the writing stars -- rising stars discussing a format for potential debates and they are reporting here from the

column of "the washington examiner." limbaugh and sean hannity iodized moderators. they are already looking to block cnn and nbc. the plan features on hillary clinton and they are looking to scrap the old model of having reporters and news personnel asking the questions and candidate forums. back to your calls from the democrats line. from jesup, georgia. caller: i think hillary clinton will probably be the nomination that i really like o'malley out of maryland. i really like a lady out of washington, the young 24-year- old black republican. and some lady down in texas, the guy who said he was a democrat and just turned republican, the

hispanic, if you check the numbers, he the president won the hispanic vote. i would like to know why the republicans tried so hard to take the waltons who spent $26 million between the five family members and not try to help the one million workers that we have to subsidize every week, every month, every year. thank you all. >> watertown, wisconsin, on the republican line. hello. how are you? who is the future of your party? caller: i think rick santorum from pennsylvania. i believe chris christie of new jersey, the governor. and i even think jeb bush has some inkling to run. as far as the democratic nominee, hillary clinton will

only have to look to benghazi for her downfall and her health, the two blood cots. she would get hit hard on benghazi since she said, what's the difference? what do we do now in? in her statement to the senate. it shows no form of diplomacy at all. in ambassador was killed and four other people.

i think hillary should be held accountable for it. she said the buck stops here in the president said it stops by him, which one is it? hillary doesn't have a chance of people remember benghazi. >> in the last go around for the president, was your early pick mitt romney you? caller: i had a hard time voting for him because of his statements. he did not like or people. >> but you did eventually vote for him? caller: it was very hard but eventually, yes, i did. >> he mentioned rick santorum.

he recently spoke at the family leadership summit in recovered some of that. >> if we going to be successful as a party and, more importantly, as a country, we need to have a revitalized culture. we need to engage in it. that's where you come in. the left lives and breathes their values. this administration wants to make sure that doesn't happen. you already see policies being put forward by this administration and they are changing the freedom of religion in this country.

you see from this administration, they don't say it as much at home but internationally, they use the term, freedom of worship. you see, it's ok to be in the walls and worship, but do not take that religion, that faith, and practice outside the church. they will restrict you. it's happening already and it will explode. i will never forget a quote given by the cardinal in chicago that said this just a couple years ago. he said, i expect to die in my bed. i expect my successor to die in prison and i expect his successor to die a martyr. unless we begin to do what they do, use not the policies, don't agree with the establishment republicans that we have to change our policies to be more like democrats but we need to change our attack asked to be more like they are. [applause]

>> also one rick santorum, a story yesterday about campaign spending. santorum accused of illegally steering a donation to super pack. a campaign-finance watchdog has filed a complaint against former gop presidential candidate rick santorum santorum or his campaign may have illegally encouraged a donor to donate and he approached santorum about getting his campaign $1 million and he urged and said to give the money instead to the super pack fund which can accept unlimited donations. the campaign is subject of much lower contribution limits and could not accept such a donation. he later rate canted saying it was staff and him to give to the super pac. a couple of tweets on our question of who the future of your party is. i love ted cruz and rand paul. for hillary, the benghazi involvement and debacle are not helping her. the future of the republican

party as fiscal conservatives and republicans such as rand paul and paul ryan. #cspanchat is the hashtag. ray, good evening. caller: i will try to keep it short. is the 15th of august, 2013, and we are looking at 2016. this is really kind of a circus. this is still going all three rounds but there were opening the gates to the circus. what i'm looking at is people running and what's even more scary is the ones that are there now, as soon as they get there, they are not keeping their promises, they all seem to toe the party line. i thought they were supposed to represent the people out there. that never happens. the second priority seems to be the reelection. they are getting set up for their future. and then after they stay as long as they can, it allows them to set up future employers, board of directors, etc. please permit me a little cynicism.

i was a good man out there for a while, mr. kucinich, but unfortunately he was not presidential. that kind of amuses me. they mean because he was not presidential because he had straw between his ears. he had a brain so he was not presidential. what's even scarier than that, the people out there voting, what happens to the matter between their ears? thanks, that's all i have to say. >> louisville, kentucky, on the democratic line. welcome. caller: thank you. one of your previous scholars, i enjoyed. he was talking about how he voted for romney but he did not

want to because he did not like the poor. on the future of the democratic party, i think cory booker is one for sure. the mayor of san antonio, castro, has a big future in this party. my concern, you talk about the republican problems, i think they need to distinguish between people who want handouts and people who want to pay for things and then that getting them on the government program. if a man loses his job in a rural area and cannot find one and he needs food stands to pay, i think you paid for it and he deserves it. that's the problem. they think any government or graham that a person is on is asking for a handout and we should be taking care of the working people first and foremost over tax cuts. i don't need my social security

cut. i needed increased when i retire. i have a problem distinguishing themselves. >> back to the issue of the future of your party. we have had calls about rand paul. how seriously in the state is it known that he's thinking about running for president? caller: it's more of him testing the waters right now. it could grow. right now, he has the intention to at least seek that path but the entire country, in kentucky, the democratic governor has basically elected and these are more liberal cities than

conservative. the entire state elects the republicans as a whole. right now, they are just testing the waters, but they could be. i just don't see the country picking batman he's very radical and extreme. that's the problem with the party overall. >> let's take a look at some of the members. here is michele bachmann this afternoon about the egyptian situation. congressman from indiana says -- and from frank pallone from new jersey -- that is in the wake of hurricane sandy last year. and of course, congress returns early september, september 9,

and work awaits on a number of issues including spending for fiscal year 2017. here is a headline in the cq reminding us of the work that congress has ahead. uncomplicated cr, containing resolution, i'd by house republican appropriators for september. in sacramento, california, on the republican line, who is the future of your party? caller: i would have a few things i would appreciate eating able to present. first, i would like to see how rush limbaugh would do. >> as a candidate? caller: yes. >> there are some in the

republican party pushing for rush and perhaps a couple of others to be moderators at the 2016 gop debate. >> i did hear that. forgive my ignorance, but do we know what state rush works out of? >> i believe florida. i'm not entirely positive. >> if we assume florida, ok. i'm wondering that may be he were to run for either a congressional representative, senator, governor of florida. pardon me for throwing that out to you. are you allowed to speculate what you might think? >> that's your speculation. you can add that comment. the person to ask would be rush himself. thanks for your comment this evening. attleboro, massachusetts, richard on the independent line. future political leader that you think is best that leading your political interests? caller: to be honest, i have no idea.

the point is that you have to follow the money. the money is the key to who's going to win. that's all that's important. nobody that has presented themselves at this point has made any determination of what's going on. in other words, the money is going broke and you cannot determine a presidential candidate. it really does not matter. you could elect romney again. it does not matter. >> more of your calls coming up looking at the future of parties across the country and asking you for your comments. one of the potential presidential candidates in the democratic party is hillary clinton. she she spoke this week at the american bar association. her comments were not political in the sense of running for office but she did talk about a number of current political issues including the voting rights act. here's which you had to say.

>> time and time again, people who were literally risking their lives for the right to vote. i'm sure you remember the famous ink stained fingers, the long lines in south africa. we have seen, however, that autocrats support the rights of their citizens.

in iran, they were caught by surprise and had to resort first to fraud and then to force. in russia, vladimir putin accused me of personally engineering the massive protests that followed the controversial parliamentary elections of 2011. of course, americans have had to fight to safeguard and extent of their right to vote as well. when i was growing up in illinois, the youth minister from our church took a few of us into chicago on a cold january night to hear dr. martin luther king speak. out words, i stood in a long line to shake his hand and thank him for his work. i was a senior in high school in march of 1965 sitting in front of a black-and-white television set when president johnson made his historic call for passing the voting rights act. his first words were, i speak tonight for the dignity of man and the destiny of democracy. in 1972, the democratic national committee sent me to register eligible are voters in the rio grande valley in texas. some the people were understandably wary of a blonde girl from chicago who did not

speak a word of spanish or texan [laughter]atter. the law belongs to them as much as it does to me and they want to vote. we have made real progress since those days, but we still have deep laws in our electoral system. between a quarter and one third of all eligible voters remain unregistered and unable to participate and compare that to canada where most citizens are registered automatically to vote when they turn 18. i held a form in cleveland after the 2004 election with my friend, the late congresswoman stephanie jones and there were reports of african-americans waiting in line to vote for 10 hours while whites and affluent precincts next door waited just 10 minutes. african-americans received flyers telling them the wrong time and day to vote.

students from kenyon college said they had to wait half a day to cast their vote. they were registered. they were eager to vote, but the machines were allocated in a way to ensure that young people would face long lines. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] [captioning performed by national captioning institute]

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>> so makes it less fun -- but more in lightning. -- enlightening. i just say thanks? there is a lot going on in the world and i would be glad to talk about it with you, but i would like to mainly have my remarks about comprehensive immigration reform. as you know, the united states senate passed a comprehensive passed by majority in the senate. now it is up to the house of representatives. and i believe this legislation is not perfect. i do not think any legislation that is serious -- that is a series of compromises that need to be made is perfect, but i also would submit to you that this microphone has provided to

you by the democratic national committee. [laughter] so there's a few fundamentals of this issue that i would like to point out. have, fort we now better or worse, 11 million people residing in this country illegally. many of them have been here and have come here recently, many of them, the majority have been here for a long time. , that will date back to amnesty. i do not think that any of us think we will round up 11 million people and send them back to wherever they came from. next thing you know, somebody is going to start booing. so, please. so don't we agree that we need

to address this issue? now, people have different views as to how to address this issue of 11 million people who are ourng in the shadows in country, and i would be eager to listen to your views, but the approach we took was to have a legalization of people who came here before december 11 of the previous year, 2011, and they status as a long as they were able to make sure they have not committed crimes and were law abiding citizens. were law abiding citizens. and then they would have a legal status. at that time, they would have to pay a fee, because this legislation is paid for by fees that would be levied, not on

additional tax dollars. then after 10 years, they would be allowed to apply for a green card. and continue on the path to citizenship. now, part of that is that we have to secure our borders and get 90% effective control of our borders, that we need to have, that people who apply will have to pay back taxes, learn fee and hey a f-- pay a get in line behind all of those who came to our country legally. blame.re the one to i see. work release program. anyway -- so, and to get in line behind all of those who came to this country legally or are waiting legally.

dreamers would be a five year period and the ag worker, i would be more than happy to describe that to you. science, our stem, technology, engineering, mathematics, postgraduate students who are in our postgraduate universities when they graduate, if they want to they can stay in this country with a green card. over half the students and science,ate, in technology, engineering and mathematics are non-citizens of this country. those studentse an opportunity to stay in the united states rather than go back to india or china or wherever they came from. as agricultural workers, we would have an expanded program, and we would also have a low-income worker visas as we ll.

one of the keys to this is that 40% of the people in this country illegally did not cross our borders illegally. they came on visa, and they overstate that visa. so the only real answer to that problem is the thing call e- verify. and that means that every person who seeks employment must have documentation that they are in this country legally. if they don't have that documentation, then the employer, if that employer hires them, that employer will be subject to severe penalties, because there is no way, my friends, that we're going to stop the magnet of people coming to this country to work unless there are penalties for people who hire people who come here illegally. important partry of this program, this proposal. and we have the technology that can do that. it is not a matter of not having the technology.

there are many other aspects of it, but i would also like to mention a couple of aspects that might be of interest to us. before going to that, let me say, the broadest coalition of support i've ever seen in anything i have done in legislation. the chamber of commerce and the aflcio came to an agreement and they presented it to us. the agricultural workers and the growers came to an agreement, and they brought it to us. we did not negotiate that harry they did. we have the evangelical community, the catholic church is supporting it. it is the broadest coalition of organizations -- the high-tech community is fully behind it. there is a broad coalition of interests across the economic spectrum of the united states that is in support of that. let me make a couple more points than i will be glad to respond. i would think it is important for you to realize what the congressional budget office said. the cbo is respected by one and

all for their opinions on the economy. they are not republican or democrat or liberal or conservative. the congressional budget office says this legislation would reduce the budget deficit i $850 billion over the next 20 years. in addition, the legislation would add $300 billion to the social security trust fund over the next 10 years. according to the senate, if the bill was passed with a pathway to citizenship and expanded visa programs, arizonan's economic output would create 8,000 jobs in 2014. it would increase the total personal income for arizona families by $2.5 billion in 2020. now there are people in this room who will say, well the border is not secure. it is not secure, but it is a

lot more secure back then it was in 1986 we gave amnesty to 3 million people. the answer to border security is technology. we have developed technology in and afghanistan where we can serve ale and attacked. as an example, in iraq one of the biggest problems we faced was the ied's, the explosives. they developed a radar, thanks to general petraeus, that it not only detects people in that at tivoli, it tracks them back to where they came from. it is an amazing technological advances. with drones, and sensors and towers, we can surveillance a border. and the equipment we need to put in to do that, we have gotten directly from the border patrol. there are nine sectors on the order between california and texas. and the border patrol assures me if we put in that technology,

which is appropriated in the bill, it will not require additional taxpayer funds because it is paid for by fees, that we will have 90% effective control over our border. so there is a lot more i could tell you about it. but i am really interested in your views. and i hope our congressional delegation, who i respect and admire -- they are very appropriately that we senators think we are snobs, and we are. four republican members of the delegation, i am re daily as to my health, which is heartening to know. [laughter] so, could i ask for your consideration? i ask for your consideration because i think a nation founded on judeo-christian principles should probably want to address this issue that we have before us. and i'm not saying it is

perfect. i am not saying it should not be changed as we continue to go through the process. but what we would like to see is the house of representatives passed legislation, whether piecemeal or however they want to -- i am not trying to tell them how they should do it. then we can go to conference between the house and the senate, which is our procedure, and come out with legislation that would get majorities in both house and senate and signed by the president of the united states. i would like to close my remarks i telling you of the experience i had a long time ago. every fourth of july, senator lieberman and senator graham of south carolina have gone to baghdad or kabul for the fourth of july. go, we do a we realism and ceremony or an award ceremony or something, try to spend time with the troops who are serving us with such distinction and honor. petraeus asked

us to attend a reenlistment ceremony of some 220 american men and women in the service who were reenlisting to stay and fight. and also part of that ceremony was 80 people who had green cards and were going to receive their citizenship. i think many of you may know that if you have a green card and you join the military and serve in the military, there is an accelerated have to citizenship. 82 that wereas going to receive citizenship. it took lace and saddam hussein's old palace. and there were a couple of thousand people there. i walked in and i saw four shares where -- chairs where the citizenship part are the ceremony were going to take place with boots on them. general petraeus said that these individuals were killed in the last 48 hours and we're going to

make them citizens. you know, when you see things ideathat, it gives you an of how patriotic and how wonderful it is and what a great opportunity we have in this country and how precious is our citizenship. you guess what i'm asking is to consider that we have an unacceptable situation as it is today, and we need to all work together, no matter where we are in the political spectrum to resolve that issue. thank you for coming and i would be glad to answer any questions or comments or insults you might have. thank you. that's ok. my wife and i want to thank you for all your support since we lost christina. we know that you were with us and we appreciate that. also, our group -- [inaudible] for

will you guys stand up? those of you that are here. [applause] >> we want to thank you for supporting our background check on guns. [applause] >> along with the support, we would like to ask you if there is any chance that we could have an audience with yourself, the senator, may be to talk about some common sense solutions to the background checks? i think all of us, whether we

agree or do not agree, as you mentioned earlier, we feel like there are some things that could be done. and we'd love to to discuss more of that with you. thank you. >> i would be honored to do so, and i would like to thank mark giffords forby their continued advocacy. no one can appreciate the pain associated with the loss of a child. so there is no way that i can never provide you with the ept the knowledge that you will see christina again. so we thank you. and we thank you for your continued advocacy. >> we appreciate that you will meet with us at a later date. we would like to have a meeting with you. >> we will do it, absolutely. yes, sir. she will bring in the microphone. >> this is green. a whole bunchhave

of things i would like to ask you but i know i cannot do that. >> just a couple. i would be glad to. >> i want to come back to the immigration issue for a moment. >> whatever is on anybody's mind. accept the approval rating of congress. i wantod part of this, to point out a couple of facts and your opinion on what we should be doing their. -- there. yesterday and in today's paper, apparently we spent $13 million on 21 homes that were built at the cost of $600,000. it shows the waste we have in government. see something that explains how any of that can be justified. the other thing -- >> if i can respond. i would be glad to have a

conversation and continue. it cannot be justified. it cannot. and people should be fired. in the dayy also before, the justice department came out and said they were not going to go and file charges against the two border patrol agents involved in shooting and killing individuals. ok? it took two years to find this out. thereom what i can tell is no justification for this continued to go on. there should be charges filed against these agents. a year ago. almost a year ago, there were two shootings in october involving agents in southern arizona. one had to do with friendly fire. and the idea that two agents were out there, and they did not know that the other agent was out there. and they both shot each other, and one of those asians was

killed. the supervisor or the superior of those agents should be held accountable. then we have another shooting that took place at the border. a border patrol agent went up to the fence and shot, through an opening in the fence, hitting a 16-year-old child in the back seven times and killing them. -- killing him. there is no justification for that. senator, if the reverse situation had been true, and a mexican border patrol agent shot an american child running away from the border, what do you think would happen? how long is it going to take for us to hear about this? supposedly the fbi is doing the research on this. the border patrol and not give me any information. the fbi will not give me information. and i think i deserve an answer

from those organizations. the last thing i want to say was in your immigration bill we are talking about adding another 20,000 order patrol agents. ents that we have, unfortunately, a large number of those agents are not qualified to be in the position they are in. and we need another 20,000 agents for, i don't know. >> thank you for your passion. first of all, all i can say is that investigations need to be conducted. oversight -- [feedback] sabotage. a left wing conspiracy. be, your question is serious and that deserves a serious answer. i thank you for your advocacy

and your passion. when these things happen, there has to be investigations. there has to be oversight by congress. in some cases there has to be hearings such as their worthwas ourast and furious where government was sending weapons to mexico that was being youn cartels.y there has to be an investigation from southern arizona was shot and killed by armed individuals which we assume were people who were members of the drug cartel. .t is a dangerous place and when we have these armed drug cartels moving drugs, the most jobs are going across the arizona-mexico border,, cross our border in arizona where

there are guys on top of mountain tops that are guiding these drug cartels and earning tucson and up to into phoenix and distributed throughout the country, then we have a serious problem. and it requires us to have a national discussion because the drugem mainly is the cartels in this violence side of it. and there is a demand for drugs and the united states. and as long as there is a demand, there will be a supply. whether they use lights, dig tunnels, or have a summary and. -- a submarine. whether they have -- like i have seen in colombia. it is a violent place when you have armed members bringing drugs across the border into our country. i do not excuse any action that took place. but to somehow think it is not dangerous when cartel members are bringing drugs up to this country is not an adequate

reading of the situation on the border, and i visit it all the time. and as i said, i think the answer to our border control is technology. you have a point about additional border patrol. one of the things we need more of is customs people so we can expedite traffic back and forth. there are some of us here old enough to remember we used to be able to walk across and have lunch in nogales and walked back. think about doing that today. you bring up problems on the border, and with this surveillance capability, we will be able to keep people back, and then we will be able to send these teams out.

finally, the coyotes. we know these coyotes are the worst scum-of-the-earth people, and they are bringing people into tucson and up to phoenix and putting them in drop houses where they hold them in the most unspeakable conditions and then hold them for ransom that their families back in mexico. it is an argument for getting our borders secure, but also an argument for us to address the entire issue of illegal immigration. i thank you for your passion. yes, sir. >> [indiscernible] >> go ahead. >> you are not answering why and what we are going to do with border patrol agents. [indiscernible] >> every citizen of this country has the benefit of innocence of proven guilty.

that is a fundamental quality of our democracy. there should be complete and thorough investigation, congressional oversight, and our system of justice exercised. the worst criminals still have the presumption in the united states of innocence until proven guilty. you may have already proven that guilty, but he is entitled to all protections of our laws. on the face of it, i think you may be right, but i would reserve judgment for the investigation and the courts. yes, sir. >> i am a member of the county medical society public health community. we have been working on trying to do something about guns. and first, i wanted to

congratulate you for the stand you have taken on background checks. and i want to add i am not a member of your party. i am a retired naval officer. and i believe that we should do better on controlling -- we are trying to get some local controls since we cannot get it to the congress. but too many of your colleagues are cowed by the national rifle association, and so we are hoping possibly, we want you to do something locally. we have a lot of -- in tucson, and people should go there and sell them to the cartels, to the mentally ill, and to kids, and

gun manufacturers do not care who buys them as long as they buy them. i am hoping that you will exert your influence, and i know that it did not go through congress, and i do not have too much hope that it would. but wherever it could be used to help, among other things, as you just pointed out -- [indiscernible] thank you. >> thank you, sir. thank you for your advocacy. we need a female questioner here. >> i think it is a very bad practice for the congress to get favors as far as the health care premiums are concerned. and i think if obamacare is such

a disaster, then you guys should be willing to defund it and get rid of it. >> i totally agree. it came as a surprise to me that it happened. i strenuously opposed obamacare, but for us to have some kind of exemption card out -- i do not what happened, but to try to find out what happened and how it happened. in case you missed it, it will contribute to the favorability of congress. it is around 12%. i saw we are down to paid staffers and blood relatives. no one else. i was going through sky harbor airport and a guy said, anybody ever tell you you look a lot like senator john mccain? i said yeah. he said, doesn't it sometimes make you mad as hell?

this latest act as you point out get your bids to that american people that members of congress divorce them from the challenges that they have. they are correct. all i can tell you is it is a surprise to me. i will look into it. i do not know how you justify it. yes, sir, could we just have this young man. then we will go to you. >> i am a student, and i wanted to know [indiscernible] i wanted to know if there is any proposition in congress to stem our demand for drugs as well is actually keeping them out of the u.s. >> which drugs? >> [indiscernible] i did not know if that apply to the drugs as well.

>> i'm glad you mentioned it, because i am conflicted on this issue. as you know, people of arizona voted that marijuana will be legal in arizona for medicinal purposes, and that has been broadly interpreted. that has been the story in the case of other state in america. we also have a situation where we are intercepting marijuana at the border, and yet at the same time there is people who are growing marijuana legally for sale to those who need it for medicinal purposes, and we have seen in california and other states widespread people who have illnesses that require the use of marijuana. so, the attorney general of the united states the day before yesterday -- or yesterday -- announced that they were going to try to adjust the war on

drugs to the most serious drug crimes. one draws the conclusion that they are not going to pay much attention to minor crimes. there is also a problem we have today, and i always make up my mind on things, but half the people in prison today in the united states are on drug charges, and some on more minor charges than others, and there is such a thing as mandatory sentences which has caused dramatic overcrowding of prisons. federal courts have ordered california to reduce dramatically their prison population. this is really a conversation that the american people have to have. we have to decide what you think is acceptable in america and what we think is not. i would like to mention one other aspect of it, and i would be glad to hear your points.

but i see movies and television programs where the use of cocaine in particular is glamorized, then i wonder if that is a beneficial effect on young americans. and so, we need to have this conversation, and i think it is pretty clear that there is at least in some respects a growing acceptance in the united states, and i am not saying that i am one of them, of the use of recreational drugs. we need to have that conversation. i thank you for the question. can i go to this lady right here. she will bring it. >> my boss sent me and i have to come back with an answer. [laughter] >> sounds like discrimination. >> i work at a hospice, and we

were affected by sequestration. we are paid solely by medicare. her question is, what is the budget, what is going to happen october 1 if we have a government shutdown? we will lose all our funding, and we have 300 patients that are dying in tucson that will not get their hospice care. so -- and is the status quo -- do you think sequestration will end on october 1, or do you think the cuts will and end at any time? >> it has been wonderful, the growing acceptance and realization that hospice is really a wonderful way, if people choose, to spend our remaining days on earth.

and the growth of hospice -- and i have had relatives who have chosen to make that choice -- has been a wonderful and caring and loving way for us all to go to my sooner or later. thank you for what you do. on sequestration -- i do not know what will happen. i know from previous experience that if we yet to this shutdown of the government, the grand canyon and the washington monument and everything that what happened when we shut down the government, the american people will react in a negative fashion and will blame congress. there are some of my colleagues in the congress that say we have to repeal obamacare if we're going to raise the debt limit. my friends, that does not work. i want to repeal obamacare. it happens to be the way i voted, but it is not the way it will happen.

we do not have 67 votes in the united states senate, which was what would be required to override a presidential veto. and so, i think it is not a right approach. what i do want to continue this effort, to repeal parts of obamacare, which are very onerous and are very harmful in my view to healthcare in america. i do not know what is going to happen, but i believe we will not shut down the government. i believe it is time the american people are heard they want us to sit down together and avoid what is turning into every year or every two years that we threaten people like you. it contributes -- i joke about the congress, but i am not proud of that. what i think is going to happen is some way we will keep you in business, and sequestration is not the answer.

sequestration was a copout on the part of congress because instead of making the specific reductions that need to be made, like second homes that are $600,000, and it hurts our military because they exhibit so many programs that the burden is being forced on the military. i will tell you one thing, you talk to your friends out at the base, they are questioning whether they want to stay in the military or not, when they are not allowed to fly, not allowed to maintain, not allowed to operate, not allowed to exercise because of sequestration. in the interest of full disclosure, i voted for it. dumbest vote i made while i have been in the congress. so all i am trying to do is sit

down with democrats in the president and sit down with my republican colleagues and we stop this and stop it for a time instead of have this be so often that the american people are not sure and people like you are not sure of their future. yes, sir. >> thank you. i want to thank you for your leadership. i think washington needs more leaders like yourself. i think you are very courageous and if is very admirable. if you are not busy, i would like you to take me with you. my question is, how do you work with your colleagues? as you may have heard, congressman king has said a lot of hateful things, and he has hateful rhetoric. specifically, he has introduced an amendment that has not gotten

past to defund deferred action, or daca, and how do you work with your colleagues so that does not harm the rhetoric of the republican party? >> let me respond to you first. the remarks that were made by congressman king -- it is a free country, he can say whatever he wants to. i can say that is outrageous and disgraceful to make a comment that people have calves the size of cantaloupes -- i will not repeat what he said. i have also a right -- he has the right to say what he wants to say -- and i think it is very harmful to the dialogue and the environment that we want to foster in america, where we are

all god's children. the best way to handle this is treat your opponents with respect. if you are disrespectful to those who disagree with you no matter who they are, then you diminish yourself and you diminish your ability to convince your colleagues. i will go to the floor -- i miss ted kennedy all the time because i used to spend half my time fighting like hell with him and half my time agreeing with him. there were freshman two senators, democrat and republican, who got into an argument about our imagery procedure on the floor. ted came down to help the democrats and i came down to help the republican. we were nose to nose for about five minutes. we walked off the floor, and teddy said, we did pretty good, did we?

we have to be respectful of everybody's views. when people disagree with you, you are free to respond, but if i can have an effect on this issue, it is because i have some respect for my colleagues. that is the best way asked the best way to get that is be respectful of the views of your colleagues even if you disagree. the gentleman behind you. >> thank you very much. i do appreciate it. i have one hard question for you. [indiscernible] you and i disagree on occasion. i am very happy [indiscernible] you made some tough choices and i think you made the right

choices. thank you for that. on the budget -- why are we doing continuing resolutions? they should not be funded. they cannot because we are on a continuing resolution. >> thank you for your service and i thank you for your representation, and i believe i speak for a lot of us that appreciate the hard work that you do. for four years, we've delayed for it, the democrats, for not passing a budget in the united states senate. this year we finally passed a budget in the senate. my republican colleagues in the senate do not want to go to conference with the house.

i do not understand that. i do not get it. i went to the floor and said i thought we were wrong. it is a symptom of the gridlock that we have. and it is very unfortunate. everybody has to live on some kind of a budget. the congress is the only one that does not. it is not acceptable. >> i am one of those people who seriously appreciate you being here, and i appreciate your history of open-mindedness and fairness. the gridlock you just alluded to is almost beyond belief. my discussions with people i know, friends and relatives, it seems to me an underlying issue is racism. there is a lot of animosity toward the president. that is an observation.

personally, i do not believe that. if you look at the places where racism exists, it seems to have their congressman support this. the congress is not doing what the people want, but racism is an underlying issue. my question to you is, to you believe there is racism in this country, and is it affecting politics in the congress? >> sir, i believe that unfortunately there is racism in this country, but i think we have made dramatic progress over the last 20 or 30 years thanks to a lot of people. a lot of sacrifice was made. i think there has been, for example, in the military we used to have a segregated military in rl harry truman integrated our military during the korean war.

i would argue today the military is the best equal opportunity employer in america. so i think we have made dramatic progress. do i believe we have a long way today? i certainly do until we eradicate sexism. we now have a problem with sexual assaults. they're trying to grapple with that issue. we cannot have young men and women joining the military and some young men who are at the risk of being victims of sexual assault. i do not believe that racism motivates my colleagues. i believe what motivates my colleagues is a fundamental philosophical difference about the role of government in our society. and obamacare the best example of that. what you believe, we conservatives believe that less government is better, less regulation, and on and on. that is what we believe.

president obama believes and he articulated in the debate that he and i had in 2008. he believes in bigger government, stimulus packages, he believes in funding of projects in my view that are already developed. we have seen huge failures of investments that we have made in certain mature industries. i reject that categorically. there may be someone somewhere, but i believe the opposition is because of a fundamental opposition in philosophy about the role of government in our society. and frankly, i reject the notion that people who have fundamental differences, which is one of the reason we have two parties, would have any base motives. yes, ma'am. >> on the subject of the military sexual assault -- [indiscernible] on the subject of military sexual trauma [indiscernible]

whatever you want to call it -- [indiscernible] a movie portrays my experience, and i would like to provide your copy of that so you can share with your constituents. >> thank you, i would be honored, and i have already heard about it, and i would be glad to see it. since you bring it up, i would like to bring remarks about it. there is a problem with sexual assaults in the military. there is a problem. for anybody to deny it, obviously the facts do not bear that out. i am proud of the military. i am proud to have two sons who have served in the military. i am proud of my family, for many generations. but this cannot stand, and action has to be taken to prevent further unspeakable

actions such as this, and the question is, how do you address it? and the debate now is what is the role of the commanding officer and whether the commanding officer should be deprived of that responsibility or whether it should be reviewed or not under the uniform code of military justice, and we have been wrestling with it for a long time in the armed services committee. we will take up the defense bill, and you will see more debate and discussion and voting on that bill. i want to assure you one thing i think it has the attention of the members of the senate, and i hope everybody takes this in the right way. i think it is helpful we have 20 women senators in the senate, and i hope that does not mean that i'm saying that i am insensitive. but it is helpful in the senate to have that input that we are getting from many of our women

senator colleagues. senator mccaskill of missouri and senator gillibrand are on opposite sides of this issue, and i try not to get on the middle of that one. yes, ma'am. there is a microphone. >> thank you so much for listening to me. i work for an amazing company that services the hard-of- hearing individuals in the country, and it is an amazing service, and the fcc is proposing regulations that are against the ada act of 1990. they are wanting to have individuals push a captioning button on each time they use a phone, and a lot of time they do not remember and they miss the first sentence because they do not use the button. they want us to charge our consumers $75 a phone when they are already paying for the

broadband internet and phone service. i am hoping that something can be done because we help individuals every day and we help the military and all those individuals that are hard of hearing. i hope you can take some action. >> i will have my staff interview you immediately of this problem. i was unaware of it. i will be glad to address it. but i will just say the americans with disability act i think was one of the most wonderful things he have done in recent years. there were some problems with that, but the fact is it is a model to the world. a lot of good things would not have happened if it had not been for that. thank you for all you do and we will be glad to have our people talk to you and address it. yes, ma'am. now, you do not have to read anything. >> i know. i want to thank you so much for

being a part of comprehensive immigration reform. my father got his citizenship and he worked hard for our family to be where we are today. i will read my notes. as the nation has moved up beyond a mentality of passage of a law -- [indiscernible] the economic benefit of bringing the undocumented of the shadows. my question to you [indiscernible] what can we do here in arizona to help other communities understand the importance of this bill and how it can be passed in the house? thank you. >> i think you need to be active, but i really urge you to be respectful. i think it is important we not

show disrespect, especially on an issue as emotional as this is, and i know that is hard to do for some of our people who have been heavily involved in these issues. i would also try to point out we do not always respond exactly to the will of the people, but it is very clear in poll after poll after poll that 70% or more of our citizens -- republican, democrat, independent -- support a path to citizenship if back taxes, fees, learn english, and get in the back of the line, that you see an overwhelming majority of americans want to move in that path. so that is what i think we need to convince our opponents that this is the right thing to do at the right time. and i would respectfully ask the opponents of this legislation,

what is your proposal? the answer may be we do not trust obama to enforce laws that we pass. that could be, but then we should not pass any laws if we do not trust the government to enforce them. and if the president of the united states does not enforce the law, there are ways to go to court -- because we have a judicial branch -- and get those reversed. a small example, the president made some appointments during a recess, which was unconstitutional in our view. we are fighting it all the way through the courts, to the national labor relations board. and it is going to be heard by the united states supreme court who will judge that the president acted unconstitutionally. that is the process, not saying we cannot pass laws to secure our border because they will not secure our border. that is not in my view the way to go.

i will do that, and there's a young man who is very eager to rebut whatever you said. yes, sir. >> senator mccain, i want to echo the words of my friend, thank you for coming to tucson. we would like to see you more down here. thank you for coming down here and talking to the people. i want to talk about immigration reform. a big issue, thank you, and we appreciate your work, a tough political thing on capitol hill, and as a former state lawmaker, we need a comprehensive immigration solution because what we have been seeing at the state capital has not worked. it has only harmed our state economically. we need a solution from washington. i appreciate -- >> i think you are right, and if our entire delegation, republican and democrat, senator flake and i hoped it would help

our organization somewhat, don't you agree? go ahead. >> i certainly do. with all due respect, we still need all the help we can get from washington. i call for that support. >> i have accumulated a lot of seniority. i will not live forever, contrary to popular belief. it should not be based on seniority. it should be based on virtue. he should have a level playing field of everybody competing for tax dollars. we should not have it spent on

the basis of seniority or clout. otherwise, soon or later we suffer because we are going to have new members of the congress and senate. arizona sends a lot more money to washington than it gets back. what our job i think should be is -- rather than saying let me put her feet in the trough. that is where we might have a slight disagreement. >> we just need to get our money back. thank you for working on it. on immigration reform, i want to talk to the issue. i have not had it come up. a big issue, very important. you spoke to the comments on the largess of the senate bills, that corker amendment, which made it very expensive, and i believe you yourself made a comment that i thought was on the money that if we pass this bill we are going to have the most militarized border since the fall of the berlin wall.

what i am asking for, is what can we do to help a common-sense solution come out of washington, not this one size of an approach of building a wall on the border that when you go down and look at places on the border -- it just does not make sense. it does not make sense, and the politics in washington seem to favor that. what can we do to have a more commonsense approach on immigration reform? related to that -- >> let me respond. that is why we have the process that we pass a bill in some legislative house, we go to conference, and we can address some of the problems that have arisen that people have with the legislation as we passed it. that is the process, as you know.

go ahead. >> thank you, and your comments on technology will do it. the bill managed hundreds of miles of the border, and we hope that can be addressed commonsensical. on another issue, in arizona and it is already hot and dry. we live in a hot and dry say. science shows our climate is changing. the consensus is clear that activities of humans contribute to a different climate. what do you think are the possibilities for addressing energy and climate in a way that will make sense to protect our quality of life and to protect our economy? coming from a state that is hot and dry, science will show it will continue to be hot and dry. what can we do about climate change? thank you. >> thank you very much, and thank you for your service. we will have to have a town hall meeting on the issue.

it was barry goldwater who used to say we have so little water that the trees chase the dogs. that was a joke. you were supposed to laugh. anyway -- i think the earth is warming and i think the question is how you address it. i worry about increasing people's taxes. i think we can rely to some degree on some technological advances as opposed to increasing taxes on americans who i think are taxed enough, for certain, in these tough economic times. there is some good news. this fracking, we are now going to be an energy-rich nation. we will export natural gas to europe which will diminish the european dependence on russian oil, and this whole fracking thing is turning into incredible

good news for america. it will make us energy independent for over a period, depending on how we do it in the next 10 or 20 years. natural gas is much cleaner. i think that is a lot of good news, and the technology is good. i think that with some incentives from the government, we are seeing automobiles with dramatically increased mileage. i have a car -- i have a ford fusion, and i never stop at a gas station. there is cars on the market that are much more fuel efficient than they used to be. it is the market that is driving that, so there are a lot of things we can do in incentivized technology, in my view, that we have not explored instead of

raising people's taxes. because i just do not think that right now with americans still in a stumbling recovery that we would want to raise taxes. yes, ma'am. >> thank you. [indiscernible] were at your town hall [indiscernible] thank you very much. she asked me to tell you that. >> thank you from the bottom of my heart. >> i will tell you her. whenever we talked about immigration reform, being in arizona is like racial whenever we talked about immigration reform, being in arizona is like racial profiling. what is happening on the west coast and east coast and the canadian border? i know all sorts of asians coming in through containers. does our immigration reform stop racial profiling and address

that issue also? >> thank you for the question. the fact is because of the disparities in our economy and in the mexican economy, and understandably, many mexican citizens and central americans, south american citizens want to come here. canadians, because basically we have an equal economic situation, are not driven to come to -- when you look at the numbers, it is nothing in comparison to what crosses our southern border. and we need to make improvements there. i am not saying we should ignore it. i am saying the major issue is still across our southern border. i would like to give you a little good news. that is the mexican economy is improving there. there are some indications right

now -- and he have not got enough -- that there may be a balance between in-migration and out-migration because the mexican economy is giving them an opportunity to live where they live. i think there is some good news out of that. the greatest disparity between two nations in the world as far as economic conditions is the united states and mexico. that is improving rather significantly. they have a young president who is surrounded by some very talented people. as you may have noticed, they are going to reform pemec and will be able to increase oil production. they are talking about deregulating the communications industry it is totally controlled by one guy, the